moonslav59

This was a very hurtful loss. I'm also worried about Bello, He's carried us for so long, but had a .534 EAR/6.01 FIP in his 5 starts before today. The bats have been slumped for way too long, as well.

-You don't often get big impact players for $7-10M/1 deals. Story has not or not yet been a big impact, and I'm not sure Yoshida is bige enough of an impact for you, but due to budget tightness, Bloom has just swung twice at that big apple. My point was directed at those who make statements that say or imply that all or nearly all Bloom does fails. No doubt, he's failed enough, but to me, it's not even half, at worst.

JH has a history of spending big, then cutting back and resetting, then spending big, again, including on pitching- free agents, extensions or trading for higher salary pitchers. Using "Bloom's history" as any sort of predictor of what may come is not something I agree on. At some point, the plan will be adjusted. IMO, spending on pitching, one way or another, including maybe trading prospects for a controllable pitcher is going to happen, again. Will Bloom still be here when that happens? Who knows? I have to think Bloom knows we need pitching. He also knows he's not drafting or signing IFA pitchers at a rate needed to expect many from the farm system. I'm choosing not to think he's that dumb to not find a way to make it happen. I know, I know, you will ask, "Why hasn't he done it already?" I'll answer, "Good question. It's one of my biggest beefs with Bloom. Low budgets or not, he could have dedicated more funds to the rotation than he has." He's never spent more than $10M/1 on any SP'er. He had a bigger budget, this past winter, and he still did not go higher. What makes that worse is that both $10M/1 guys were busts: Richards and Kluber. He did a little better with the next tier signings (Perez I, Perez II, Wacha and Hill,) but that has never been enough, in my eyes.

TEX and or HOU might not care about winning those last games. They may be resting some players.

Assuming 23 GS would be the norm for a SP who never missed a start, our SP'er have missed these amounts of starts: 4 Bello 8 Paxton 11 Sale 13 Whitlock 14 Kluber (demoted before IL) If you viewed Pivetta as being in the "all healthy rotation," he missed 13 starts due to demotion not injury.

If I told you in March, our top leaders in GS would be 19 Bello 15 Paxton 14 Crawford You might ask, if we had the worst record in MLB. A pitcher who never missed a start would have about 23 starts, by now (116/5). Here is the team W-L record by SP'er: 9-3 Sale 13-6 Bello 6-4 Whitlock (4 starts with 2 or less, 6 with 4 or less ands 7 with 5 or less) 5-5 Pivetta (6 starts with 4 or less, 7 with 5 or less) 7-8 Paxton (8 starts with 4 or less run support, 10 with 5 or less) 6-7 Houck (7 starts with less than 2 runn support!) 6-8 Crawford (8 starts with 4 or less) 3-6 Kluber (3 starts with 1 or less, 5 with 4 or less) 6-8 Others

Agreed, and it risked overtaxing our pen to the point where it might have turned one of our biggest pluses, this year, into a meh or minus. Our opener and scrub starter games have not ended well: L CLE Dermody W NYY Ort L MIN Garza L MIA Ort L TEX Bernardino W OAK Bernardino W OAK TScott W OAK Bernardino L OAK Jacques (back-to back pen games) W NYM Bernardino W ATL Schreiber L SFG Bernardino L TOR Schreiber L TOR Bernardino (back-to-back) 6-8 is not horrible, but what effect did these games have on using up the pen for following games?

Flaherty and Lowenzen did not cost much, at all. Any effort to improve and deepen the pitching staff would have helped the roster and the morale.

Would it really have been all that bad to trade Paulino and Drohan for a decent SP'er? If we ended up with 6-7 decent SP'ers, after everyone returns, the pen would be greatly improved by moving Houck, Whitlock or someone else to the pen. The pen needs some innings eaters and has been taxed a lot, recently. Our Staff would be better adding starters to the pen and not keeping guys like Llovera, Barraclough and Jacques there. Also, thinking we will finish the year with no pitchers going on the IL, means you should be okay with one of those scubs coming back up.

I'm not arguing Walter is better than Robertson. I agree with your position. Just because I provide some data that supports Walter does not mean I am trying to convince you and others he is better. Walter's OPS Against in AA/AAA was third best in the whole Sox system. In 57.2 innings, he K'd 75 and walked only 7- one of the best K/BB ratios in minor league baseball. Yes, his 7.2 IP in AAA, last year were not good, and this year 72 IP, as well, but you never know. 2023 AAA ERA/OPS Against 5.50/.802 Walter 7.01/.881 Murphy Again, I like Robertson more. I just wanted to give a more full look at Walter's career.

...and yet most of the criticism is directed at him. The guy has made many bad moves. Name a GM who has not. So far, these moves look pretty good to very good: Urias? Barnardino Reyes Tapia & Chang filled the roles, when needed Martin Jansen Turner Yoshida Duvall? McGuire Abreu & EValdez Wacha Hill Strahm Paxton Schwarber Robles I Iggy & TShaw I Schreiber Refsnyder Kike I ? Renfroe Ottavino ? Pivetta Whitlock Verdugo & Wong Arroyo Not all these guys were/are great, but it is quite a few good moves. Do all the bad moves really bring his grade down below a C, or far below a C. If you think they do, fine, but by the sounds coming from the many Bloom critics, he ONLY makes bad moves or makes almost all BAD moves. I don't see it that way, and when you look at the budgets he was handed to add players, expecting much better than this, is off base, in my opinion. No, that is not apologizing or supporting Bloom. It is just giving the facts. He made enough bad moves to make up a pretty good sized list. I don't need to list them, because most have it memorized.

Patience used to be a virtue: not anymore.

I know you said AAA. Can't anyone add to the points made for a deeper understanding?

The Sox have won 4 of 5 and might need to go 4-1 in the next 5 to get back in the race. CLE scored 3 in the 9th to tie TBR, but TBR won 9-8. Yanks won 9-4 over MIA. HOU won 11-3 over LAA. TEX squeaked by SFG 2-1. SEA beat up in BAL 9-2 and seem for real. Luckily, TOR lost 6-2 to CHC, so we only gained on BAL & TOR. WC Standings TBR +5.0 HOU +2.5 TOR --- SEA -0.5 BOS -3.0 NYY -4.0 LAA -6.5

Woo won the suspended game 5-0. Walter 3 IP 3H 0ER 1BB 2K Rafaela 2-3 w 12th HR Abreu 1-2 w HBP Woo lost the regular game 7-1 Houck went 3 IP: 1H, 0ER, 0BB, 3K Abreu 2-3 (.833) Dalbec hit his 28th HR (1.000 OPS) POR won 12-4 Denlinger 2.1 IP, 2H, 0ER, 0BB, 3K Hickey 2-4 w 14th HR Yorke 2-4 w BB Binelas 1-3 w HR & BB Bonaci 1-4 w HR & BB Gree lost 5-1 Lopez with a solo blast SAL lost 3-1 Monegro 5IP, 3H, 0ER, 1BB, 11 K Romero 1-3 w 3B & BB FCL lost Campbell 3-3 Yuten 2-5 Zayas 1-3 w HR DSL Red won 3-0 Musett 3-4 w HR DSL Blue won 3-1 Salazar 2-3 w 2B & BB Cespedes 1-4 (.991) Nunez 1-4 w 3B (.919)

A leader change and shake-up of Sox OPS leaders: .845 Duran .843 Devers .841 Casas .832 Yoshida .831 Duvall .826 Turner

Great summary, but I think Murphy deserved a mention. 3 no hit innings.

A look at some Sox pitchers in the long relief role, this year: Crawford (8 games from 4/13 to 5/31) 1.66 ERA/.471 OPS Against Winckowski (42 games from 3/30 to 8/10) 2.86 ERA/.736 OPS Against Pivetta (17 games from 5/21 to 7/25) 1.98 ERA/.437 OPSA (1.51/.391 his last 15 gms in relief.) Murphy (11 games in 2023) 2.94 ERA/.683 OPSA before tonight Walter (6 games in 2023) 3.07/.739 OPSA While Jansen and Martin get a much deserved praise, these guys have pitched a lot of innings that kept us in many winning games.

Can we still get Berrios? LOL

I said that last winter would be Bloom's defining moment and even used the word "legacy" for "good or bad." I have not backed down from that position. (I have not given up on this year, despite coming close a couple times.) I have said I think JH is not looking at last winter as the moment Bloom was expected to get us very near to glory, and that Bloom will be back, no matter how this ends, but that does not mean I let him off the hook. If we miss the playoffs and finish in last and he stays, I will continue hoping we get better, that Bloom's farm additions start making a difference and that his next moves continue to improve. I won't say he sucks. I won't say he's great, because he is neither.

You obviously haven't read all my posts. I caught grief for saying, day one, the JBJ trade was a "head scratcher" and "made no sense." I said similar things about the Diekman signing and several other moves. I was highly critical of not selling, last summer (and not buying this summer,) but I'm not sure that Bloom is the one who made the call. If it was, then I'd bash him for that. Providing context does not absolve the GM of all culpability and does not mean I support everything he has ever done. I do think the overall 5 year plan is not his idea. He may be fully supportive of it, but who knows why? Because he likes the plan? Because he just does what the boss wants? Maybe some of both? Would you feel better, if you found out he begged JH to be allowed to trade for Lorenzen, but JH said no? I don't see everything as black and white. I've given Bloom a grade of C or lower in at least one area, so your point about "never holding anything against him" is off base.

Big cheer to our long relievers, this year! After moving Whitlock and Houck to the rotation, one big worry was how to backfill their very capable long men slots. Well, HOT-DAMN! This role has become one of our biggest and most consistent plusses of our team! First, Crawford and Wink carried the pen early in the year. Next, Pivetta's demotion from the rotation allowed Wink to become more of a short reliever, and Pivetta flourished in the role, until he and Crawford were moved to the rotation. Now, Murphy has stepped into the void. I don't want to hear "smokescreen" talk. The kid has done very well! Maybe Walter has been smoke and mirrors, but he's only pitched in 6 games. Kudos long men!

Even if it does, let's see how the comps might look: Let's say his OPS would be .825 as a catcher and .850 at 1B or elsewhere. League catcher OPS have ranged from .660-.715 over the last 5 years. League 1B OPS have ranged from .730-.790 over the last 5 years. LF: .705 to .775 DH: .730 to .805 He's be about 140 points higher than the norm at catcher, but only... 90 higher than 1B 110 at LF 90 at DH I'll take a catcher that blows almost every other team's catcher OPS out of the water than a 1Bman, left fielder and DH who is just marginally better than his counterpart.

Pretty close to vintage. Remember, his previous 8 starts before the IL, he was at... 2.87 ERA 2.71 FIP .633 OPS Against He just has to stay off the IL. Slowly ramp up his pitches/innings per start.

How did Murphy turn things around, like this? He was awful the second half of 2022 in AAA, and didn't look all that good, this spring there, either.